The Mandeville City Council on Thursday night approved a roughly $38 million budget for the coming fiscal year, but not before making a last-minute cut to the amount allocated for city employee benefits. The council engaged in a long debate before deciding to cut the amount it intended to spend on health insurance from $2.32 million to $2.17 million.

The council also debated the question of whether the city should convert the Keep Mandeville Beautiful director position from a contract employee into a full-time job. Some city officials have said because of the nature of the job, including the number of hours required, the city may be legally required to make the position a full-time post. The council decided to keep the position under contract pending a legal opinion.

Former Councilman Jack McGuire was critical of the council's move to reduce health insurance funding for city employees, saying the city should not "balance the budget on the backs of the employees."

During a meeting earlier this month, the council trimmed nearly $400,000 from the operating budget originally proposed by Mayor Donald Villere, while adding to the capital budget. What has emerged is a spending plan of about $38 million, which includes the government's operational costs and capital expenditures for the coming year.

As originally proposed, the operating budget would have been infused with money from the city's surplus fund to bring it into balance. But council members decided to instead balance the budget by making cuts.

The trims included about $91,000 the administration had budgeted to hire a CPA to bolster the city's finance department. The council initially had voted to remove roughly $190,000 from the $2.5 million originally allocated for employee health insurance costs before dropping the number to $2.1 million Thursday. The legal department's budget was trimmed as was spending for parks and parkways.

The government's next fiscal year begins Sept. 1. The public dialog over the budget began last October when the council formed a citizens committee to help the city outline a spending plan. The Mandeville Financial Oversight Committee met regularly and sponsored several resolutions designed to help improve the budgeting process.

In addition to the committee meetings, Madden said the council has conducted seven public budget hearings, although the city charter requires that only one be held.

During the process, Villere and the council clashed several times over budget forecasting, financial timelines and other fiscal matters.

McGuire, who served on the council from 1984 to 2000, criticized the council Thursday night for "berating the mayor over the budget."